WATERLOO - Andriy Shkilko, Wilfrid Laurier University associate professor of finance, has been appointed to the position of Canada Research Chair in Financial Markets.

Canada Research Chair (CRC) appointments across Canada were officially announced by the honourable Ed Holder, minister of state (science and technology), at the University of Alberta on March 28.

Shkilko will be studying the recent structural shift in financial markets whereby high-speed computers have been replacing human traders. High-speed trading generates over 50 per cent of the volume in some markets. Given the ultra-high frequencies at which computers switch positions (often, their speeds are incomprehensible to human senses), governments and finance professionals are questioning the effects of high-frequency trading on the functionality and fairness of financial markets. Shkilko will use the latest data and methods to address the question asked by regulators across the globe: Is high-frequency trading harmful?

“I believe that this research program will significantly enhance our understanding of modern securities markets and will result in valuable evidence-based policy recommendations,” said Shkilko.Shkilko will begin his appointment as a Tier 2 CRC on July 1.

“We are pleased that Dr. Shkilko will be assuming this Canada Research Chair at Laurier,” said Abby Goodrum, vice-president: research. “He has the vision and the determination to build a strong research presence in market microstructure which promises to have an important impact on policymaking in Canada and beyond.”

With Shkilko’s appointment, Wilfrid Laurier University will have 11 Canada Research Chairs in disciplines ranging from international human rights to forests and global change.

“Our government is committed to supporting top researchers across all disciplines through programs such as the Canada Research Chairs Program,” said Holder. “More than 1,700 chairholders are pushing the frontiers of knowledge in universities and colleges throughout Canada, driving jobs, growth and economic prosperity for Canadians.”

In 2000, the Government of Canada created a permanent program to establish 2000 research professorships—Canada Research Chairs—in eligible degree-granting institutions across the country. The Canada Research Chairs program invests $300 million per year to attract and retain some of the world's most accomplished and promising minds and make Canada one of the world's top countries in research and development.

Following the CRC announcements on March 28, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) announced more than $3 million in new funding for research infrastructure that will support the latest appointments to the Canada Research Chairs program. Laurier's Andriy Shkilko received a Leaders Opportunity Fund award of $36,883 for "A Program of Study of Algorithmic and High-Frequency Trading and Other Recent Technology-Driven Changes in Global Financial Markets."